An Egyptian court has recommended the death sentence for the leader of the now-banned Muslim Brotherhood and 682 supporters, state television said on Monday.
The same court also handed down a final capital punishment ruling for 37 others.
Charges in both cases, which were tried by the same judge, are related to violent riots in the central Egyptian city of Minya in August, including the murder of a police officer.
Mohammed Badie, the Bortherhood’s general guide, is among 683 supporters of ousted President Mohamed Morsy whose death sentences are not final — as the case has been referred to the nation’s Grand Mufti, Egypt’s highest religious authority, for review.
In the second case relating to 529 Muslim Brotherhood supporters sentenced to death last month, the judge upheld 37 death sentences. The rest saw their sentences commuted to life in prison.
Most of the people sentenced are being tried in absentia. All defendants are still permitted to appeal.
Egypt has faced unending turmoil since the uprising that toppled longtime leader Hosni Mubarak in 2011. Since the army removed the Brotherhood from power last July, the country has suffered the worst internal strife in its modern history. Morsy and other Brotherhood leaders were rounded up soon after his removal from office.
Cairo’s military-installed government has branded the Brotherhood a terrorist group, an allegation it denies.
